Sunday, July 12, 2009

Olifants backpacking trail, part 5

Day 5: The River Crossing, beer, and civilisation.

Early the next morning, we got up and I discovered how cold the night had been: enough to put a decent layer of frost on my tent. We were now actively searching for a place to cross the river, as we needed to be on the opposite side of the river to meet our lift back to civilisation. None of us were overly pleased with that prospect, and tried to delay the inevitable trip as much as possible.

We eventually found a suitable site, and hand-in-hand with Roger, we crossed the murky river as quickly as possible. This time, the crossing was definitely deeper, and we wasted no time in the crossing. This time, there were no rocks for me to injure myself on, but Barry burst his massive blister, which then needed doctoring because sand had gotten into the wound...

After what seemed like another death march, we virtually walked into the vehicle which was going to deliver us back to civilisation. I felt so disappointed that the amazing-ness had ended, and as a result was a bit withdrawn and almost sulky. The one thing that made it better was a cooler box full of BEER and cokes and water and fruit juice....

Our time on the trail had ended, but we still had to get back to Olifants camp, and from there to what seemed like dodgy accommodation (doesn't the name Mufasa just make you think of a rather dingy, sixties porno house?). On the way, we had some cool sightings, think massive elephant in musth, a lion feeding, and a jackal trying to get some food. We eventually got to our lodgings for the night, amidst trepidation from all of us, and found that all of out fears were unfounded.... We had some really really good food at the Buffalo Pub and Grill (I chose the spinach penne - I was craving green stuff), along with more beer, then went back to our lodgings, and proceeded to finish up more alcohol, which lead to a lot of WTMI...

The next day we spent trying as hard as possible to prolong our trip. But in the end, we had to leave, and head back to the smoggy area which I call home.